URGENT: Dail to vote on your right to a Union

YOUR ACTION IS NEEDED NOW. This coming Wednesday (22nd February 2017) Dail Eireann will debate and vote on whether you should have trade union access at work. We all need to contact our TD’s and demand they stand with workers on this vital issue. Sign the petition by clicking here and contact your local TD’s below.

The Bill, put forward by Deputy David Cullinane from Sinn Fein, would allow employees access to their trade union representative at work. It is expected that most political parties in the Dail will vote in favour of the Bill but so far Fianna Fail have yet to decide their position. If they vote in favour, the Bill will pass and that’s why we must contact them and demand they stand with workers in Ireland.

“Employers have a disproportionate amount of power over their staff, particularly when workers are on low-hour contracts,” said John Mr Douglas, Mandate General Secretary.

“In companies like Dunnes Stores, workers are regularly called into disciplinary meetings with highly trained Human Resource Managers and they are refused access to their trade union official. This is completely unfair,” he said.

He added, “IKEA, another massive multinational retailer making enormous profits in Ireland has had their workers’ trade union officials physically removed from the car park for trying to discuss matters of concern for the workers.”

Mandate says Ireland has among the weakest legislative protections for workers in the developed world and that is one of the reasons Ireland has the second highest prevalence of low pay in the OECD, the second highest prevalence of underemployment in the EU15 and is considered one of the most ‘flexible’ workforces in the EU.

The ‘Right to Access Bill’, if passed, would go some way towards re-balancing power at work and would reduce exploitation in the workplace. The Irish Congress of Trade Union’s – representing 600,000 workers on the island of Ireland – is also backing the Bill.

Mandate Trade Union is calling on all members to contact their local TD’s and demand that they back workers having access to their trade union at work.